Putting a stop to
cluster munitions

After decades of failure and
persistent civilian suffering caused by cluster munitions,
global concern is gaining momentum to put an end to these
terrible weapons.

Cluster munitions
have killed and injured tens of thousands of innocent civilians
since they were first used during the Second World War. Twelve-year-old
Ahmed is one of the latest victims. Ahmed lives in Lebanon,
where the war in 2006 showed the devastation these weapons
cause when used on a large scale. “I was playing football
near my home when the ball hit something and exploded,”
says Ahmed, who was seriously injured. The United Nations
(UN) estimates that 4 million submunitions were dropped in
Lebanon, of which 1 million failed to detonate.

“From the perspective of many armed forces, cluster
munitions give value for money — they can be mass produced
and they provide a fairly easy way of saturating a given area
with explosive effect and fragmentation,” explains Ben
Lark, mine action coordinator for the ICRC. These deadly weapons
are comparatively simple, consisting of canisters that can
be dropped from a plane or delivered by a missile or shell.
The canister is meant to open in mid-air, ejecting up to 650
smaller bomblets or submunitions packed with explosives that
detonate on impact. Often, the bomblets fail to detonate —
this type of ammunition is notoriously inaccurate and unreliable.

Who suffers?

“Unexploded submunitions tend to look fairly innocent.
They take the form of small, sometimes brightly coloured objects,
often lying on the ground,” explains Lark. “When
people, particularly children, find them in their gardens
or yards, they are likely to pick them up. The result may
be serious injury or death.”

When cluster munitions are used in a populated area or miss
their intended target, the consequences can be devastating.
Those submunitions that detonate spray metal shards all around,
while an estimated 10 per cent to 30 per cent or more fail
to go off, contaminating large areas of land and threatening
aid and reconstruction efforts.

During the Kosovo conflict in 1999, the ICRC collected data
showing that cluster munitions accounted for over a third
of the almost 500 civilian casualties – about the same
number as caused by landmines and all other types of munitions
together. Children under 14 were nearly five times more likely
to be killed or injured by cluster munitions than by anti-personnel
mines.

Action to limit their use

Following the success of the campaign to ban anti-personnel
mines, there is a growing international outcry against the
use of cluster munitions. “Most of these weapons were
designed, produced and bought during the Cold War. Yet they
are now being used in completely different scenarios and contexts
— in villages, towns, even cities, and in developing
countries. Ironically, they are also being used by international
forces intervening in the name of humanitarian causes and
protection of the population,” explains Peter Herby,
head of the ICRC’s Arms Unit.

Surprisingly, no treaty specifically regulates the use of
cluster munitions. These devices are classed as conventional
weapons, and their use comes under the rules of international
humanitarian law (IHL). IHL says that they must not cause
damage to civilians that is out of proportion to the military
advantage gained by their use. Nor may they be used to hit
military and civilian objects indiscriminately. Lastly, all
feasible precautions must to be taken to prevent civilians
from being killed or injured as a result of their use.

“It is difficult to expect the rules to be implemented
scrupulously by states,” says Herby. “Given the
unreliability and inaccuracy of this weapon, discriminate
and proportional use is next to impossible. We therefore need
specific laws regulating its use.”

The Kosovo and Lebanon conflicts proved once again that the
use of cluster munitions was inappropriate, prompting the
ICRC to call on states to immediately end the use of inaccurate
and unreliable cluster munitions, prohibit their use against
any military objective located in a populated area, eliminate
stocks of inaccurate and unreliable cluster munitions and,
pending their destruction, not transfer such weapons to other
countries.

In August 2007, on the basis of these provisions, the ICRC
called for a new IHL treaty which includes an important point:
“To provide for victim assistance, the clearance of
cluster munitions and activities to minimize the impact of
these weapons on civilian populations.”

An ICRC initiative in 2000 following the Kosovo conflict
met with limited success in the form of a protocol to the
Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), making all
parties to an armed conflict responsible for clearing their
unexploded ordnance or providing assistance for doing so.
They are also required to make information on the types and
locations of munitions available promptly. The protocol contains
no restrictions on the use of cluster munitions and no requirement
to reduce their high failure rates. Nor does it address the
high risk or indiscriminate effects of a cluster munitions
attack when the submunitions do not detonate, particularly
if the attack is carried out on a populated area.

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has
joined the effort to address these legal shortfalls. The efforts
of the Norwegian Red Cross helped convince its government
to issue a moratorium on the use of cluster munitions, pending
an international ban. “National Societies have a unique
insight into the humanitarian consequences of cluster munitions,
and therefore have an obligation to lobby decision-makers
to make the right choices,” says Preben Marcussen, adviser
to the Norwegian Red Cross.

Outright ban

“Cluster munitions contamination was unprecedented
following the Lebanon conflict in 2006. Most were dropped
in what we believe was the last 72 hours of the war,”
says Chris Clarke, head of the UN Mine Action Coordination
Centre in Lebanon.

The Lebanon situation, coupled with mounting frustration
at the lack of progress in the CCW, where unanimous agreement
from all participating states is required, prompted an initiative
outside the CCW led by Norway. It commits countries to negotiating
and adopting a treaty with very high standards. In February
2007, representatives from 46 countries issued the “Oslo
Declaration” calling for an international treaty to
be concluded by 2008 that will prohibit the use, production,
transfer and stockpiling of cluster munitions that cause unacceptable
harm to civilians.

Cluster munitions are now being debated by states, both at
the CCW and through the Norwegian initiative. The fact that
two sets of rules on cluster munitions are being negotiated
at the same time does present potential problems, as neither
may gain universal recognition — or worse, states may
adopt an “à la carte” approach to the law.

Although it is hard to predict how this will resolve itself,
under the Norwegian initiative a significant number of states
remain determined to negotiate a regulatory treaty on cluster
munitions within a year. While it may be too late for young
Ahmed and others who have been injured or killed by cluster
munitions, this treaty will remove a major threat to innocent
people caught up in future wars and conflicts.

ICRC Operational response

The ICRC is undertaking preventive “mine action”
activities in 27 countries. These are either implemented
as part of ICRC operations or are run by National Societies
with ICRC support. Activities focus on reducing the
impact of mines and explosive remnants of war, including
cluster munitions, through data gathering, risk reduction
and risk education. In areas of armed conflict, the
ICRC provides direct first-aid support to victims and
to National Societies’ first-aid services. The
ICRC also runs or supports physical rehabilitation services
for disabled people in 23 countries.